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Patrick Duffy, 63, returns to Dallas as the iconic Bobby Ewing on Wednesday, June 13 (9 p.m. ET, TNT). We caught up with the grandpa of three, which he calls “paradise,” to see what he’s been up to.

Read on for for exclusives from our interview, online only.

What's one of the best things about being back?

Working with Larry Hagman and Linda Gray again. When Dallas was cancelled, he knew “that the three of us would never work together again. ... We’ve been told ‘there’s no way two or three of you can walk together into a scene, without people saying, “Oh look, it’s Sue Ellen, Bobby and JR.”

More on what's different about Dallas now?

“We need to reflect a certain group of realities. One is that science is no longer drill oil, refine it and that’s your energy source. Back in the ’80s if you talked of alternative energy, you were a hippie ...it was laughed at and now alternate energy, hybrid cars, all of these things are standard conversation.”

You've been a part of many successful TV shows (The Man from Atlantis and Step By Step) - do you believe the Buddhism helped in your career ?

“You have to talk to people who knew me before and after. But I’m no happier now than I was before I started being employed as an actor. I found my happiness quotient outside of looking for it in the industry,” Duffy says. “There have been times when I was wondering, ‘Gee, I haven’t worked in a year, interesting.’ But it didn’t affect my life condition at all.”

And when things weren't going your way? Did you have a back-up plan?

“Nope. I always thought I’m not working yet. It was Y-E-T, the yet word, my wife taught me. If something isn’t going your way, it’s just not going you’re way yet. Why get all your shirts in a knot, it’s not the reality. It’s like, ‘it’s not Christmas yet but Christmas is going to be here on the 25th of December, it’s guaranteed. I look at everything in my life that way. If it’s not happening right now, it just means it’s not happening yet and I keep practicing Buddhism and I’m happy.”

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What's on your to-do list?

“Live longer.”

You're out of Hollywood, in Oregon, is that right?

“We’ve had our ranch here for about 22 years and 10 years ago we moved up permanently from L.A., both my boys, who are now young men with their our own families, they moved out of the house, got out of college and my wife and I looked at each other and realized that’s not where we wanted to retire. We came up here and then I thought we retired.”

Is it a working ranch?

“It’s a semi-working ranch. I do a lot of pointing: ‘That needs fixing over there’ ... It’s 600 acres and we lease out our grazing pastures to other ranchers in the area so none of the animals are my responsibility,” Duffy says. “There are always animals and a lot of wild life. ”

How has taking 'responsibility' helped his marriage?

“I always say you have to find the right person, that’s first and foremost but then you also have to work at it. ... I look at everything that happens in my life as my responsibility. ...I have the ability to change everything. I think that helps the marriage a lot.”

Do you have any TV favorites?

“I am the troglodyte of the Duffy family. I tend to watch news programs and being here in [the] ranch we’re basically lights out — my wife is lights out around 7 o’clock — I stay up for another hour or so. I have a DVR, I’ve yet to program it which drives my son crazy. I’ll watch a little MSNBC, a little local news, a little Jeopardy!, and that’s it. In the morning, my wife and I do the crosswords. So, hopefully our brains are the most exercised parts of our bodies now.”